Vacuum-tube lighting.



N0. 851,685. PATENTED APR. 30, 1907. D. MOP. MOORE.

VACUUM TUBE LIGHTING.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 16. 1905.

WITNESSES:

//VI/ENTOR BGNI/W ZFXIN more 4 J 4 By I To-ctll whom it may concern.-

- DANIEL MoFARLAN MOORE,

- MooR resident of Newark, in the county of Essex and*Statof New Jersey, with post-office UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE...

or NEWARK, EW JERSEY, AssieNoa'iro MOORE ELECTRICAL COMPANY, on N W YORK, N. Y., A oo Po A- 'rio OF NEW 'YonK.

VACUUM-TUBELIGHTING.

DANIEL MQFARLAN a citizen of the United States, and a Be it known that I,

address '52 Lawrence street, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Vacuum-Tube Lighting, of which the followi is a specification.

y invention relates to a system or appa- Y ratus for lighting by electricity and has for its prima The electrodes object to provide a convenient means for ighting by means of vacuum tubes or lamps in which the light is'produced by an electrically excited gas or vaporcontained in a translucent tube, the terminals of which are provided with proper energy transferring electrodes. I

A further ob'ect of the invention is topermit the use 0 the unit tubes of comparativelyshort length and to operate the same in series by electricityof high potential by which I mean potential such that it would be considered dangerous from the standpoint of fire insurance underwriters.

My invention consists essentially of a system or apparatus comprising a number of unit lighting tubes arranged end to end and having. their contiguous energy transferring terminals inclosed in 'a danger proof or inbeing entirely inclosed and protected.

- In car 'n'g out this invention, I propose to employ' tubes with energy transferrin terminals or electrodes of an desired ind. Such electrodes may accor ingly be either caps orsleeves of conducting material applied to the exterior of the tube ator-near its end and 'o erating in a well known manner to transfer the energy by electrostatic action. In this case the source of energy would bean alternating'or'other rapidly varying source.

might also be internal electrodes, 'i. -e. electrodes of suitable character located within the tube so as to be in contact with afgas 'or vaporof the proper kind, but

forming-- the terminals of leading in wires sealed-m the glass of the lamp and projecting" on-the exterior of the tube. 15 Well understood, the energy might be In this case, as lternatmg or other varying energy or Illlgafi be energy of constant potential and directio specification of Letters Patent. Application filed Novgiiber 1a, 1905. Serial ata/tea.

-vided an insulating i Patented Apri1 so, 1907.

The individual or unit tubes of-the system may be each a straight tube or they may someor all of them be curved or may, as to their longitudinal axis, follow any desiredpath. Y

Bythe use of my invention, vacuum tube li htin may beemployed in any situations w ere it is desiredto. have long lines of practically continuous light either for decorative purposes or for the purpose of more thoroughly diffusing or distributing the illumination from any given source of energy or for any given amount of power.

In the accompanying drawings, F' re 1, I have shown my invention principal y in a diagrammatic way, by illustratin the same ascarried out with tube units, eac of which ismarked 1. Fig. 2 illustrates a modification in'a detail of the system.

' The terminal units of the system receive energy by being connected respectively to the opposite terminals of the pro or source within a bbx or casing 2 from whic the glass portion of the tube projects after the manner described in my prior patent 702,320, datedJune' 10th, 1902. The opposite end of eachterminal tube 1 of the system is housed in a protectin box or casing 3; the glass portion of the tu e alone is exposed and the in-"- closure is of such character as to prevent acc dental contact of surrounding objects or persons with the electrode or leading-in wire within saidcasing 3.

A suitable, supfport may be provided upon which the, end o the tube may rest as indicated'at 4 in-the case of one of the boxes and the juxtaposed end of the next unit tube of thesei es is also located in the same box and PIUJGOiJS therefromin a similar way. The

electrodes'fof such two 'umt juxtaposed tubes are electrically united by a connection 5 of anysuitable character within said box or inclo'sure 3.. The. said box or inclosure is preferably of insulating material or is prolining and has b reference a removable cover 3. The a oining contiguous ends of the unit tubes of' the system .are supported and located: throughout'jn similar inclosures. to form a connected series of tubes through which the energy flows in series. from the course-located 1n the terminal box 2.

5 As will be seen the united the system 'erably made as small as I away as little as possible from the visual efmay be of any desired length. The dimenslon of the box or inclosure 3 in the direction of the connected series of tubes is'prefpossible so as to take fect of-a continuous line of tube lighting.

The use 0 tubes with internal electrodes aids in securing this result or effect since there is but little metal exposed at the end of each tube unit and if the ends are brought close together the length of the union between the internal electrodes may be very short. To aid in accomplishing the desired. result the su porting fixtures 4 might be located outsi e the box or inclosure andthe protective casing confined simplyto the immediate end of the tube so as to fully embrace the connection 5. In this case, as before, the glass portion of the tube would be the only part projecting from the protective ,inclosure through the opening in the wall of the inclosure, at which it is desirable that the opening should fit rather closely around the tube.

This modification in detail of the system is illustrated in Fig. 2. The connection between the contiguous ends of the tube units in the inclosure 3 might be obviously made by metallic fixtures or the projecting ends of the leadingin wires might be directly secured together, which latter is for some reasons the preferred manner of connecting up the unit sections.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In a system of lighting by vacuum lamps, a series of unit tubes, assembled end to end with their contiguous ends inclosed in danger proof boxes or casings, and having the electrodes of such contiguous ends elecsenses trically united to form one tubing of light.

2. The combination substantially as descrbed of a multiplicity of ,unit vacuum a practically continu source of energy, scribed 5 3. In a system of electric lighting, the combination substantially as described, of. a series of vacuum tube lamps, provided with internal electrodes, sai tubes being arranged in series end to end with. their leading-in wires comiected together, an tective inclosure for the contiguous en s of a unit tube of a system and from which the glass portion of the tubing alone projects and means external to said casing for supporting the tube.

4. In a system of vacuum tube lighting, a connected series of unit tubes having the electrodes of'contiguous ends joined in a protective inclosure so as to form said unit tubes into one effective lighting tube, the exposed part of which is of glass only.

Signed at New York in the county of New York and State of New York this. th day of November, A. D. 1905.

DANIEL McFARIlAN MOORE.

Witnesses:

C. F. TISCHNER, Jr.,

as and for the purpose'de- LILLIAN RLoNn. Y

respectively to opposite terminals of a insulated ro'-.

tube lamps, each consisting of a tube pro- 

